“Platoneum” Palace

The endowment of Bishop Platon

The building known as the “Platoneum” stands in the old core of Novi Sad, at Pašićeva Street no. 6 (formerly Ćurčijska Street, near Zlatna greda). This monumental single-storey building is the endowment of the Bishop of Bačka, Platon Atanacković, one of the greatest benefactors in the history of Serbian education.

Bishop Platon bought this house (built around 1852) and, through his bequest of 1861, donated it to the Fund of the Serbian Law Academy. The value of the house was then estimated at an impressive 40,000 forints. His visionary intention was that the income from this building should be used to found and run a higher school of law; until it was opened, the income belonged to the Novi Sad gymnasium.

Home of institutions of national importance

Throughout its long history, the “Platoneum” has been a refuge for the most important Serbian institutions. After moving from Pest to Novi Sad, Matica Srpska found its home precisely in this building and resided here from 1864 to 1928. The Platoneum housed the Matica's library and gallery, which represented the cultural centre of the Serbs in Austria-Hungary.

Besides Matica, the building also housed the Second Men's Gymnasium and a Reading Room. In his bequest, the Bishop stipulated that the building should serve the people "for their benefit", which it did for decades.

The Platoneum today

Today the building houses the Novi Sad Branch of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SASA). In this way Bishop Platon's original covenant, that the building should serve the highest scientific and academic aims of the Serbian people, has been fulfilled in the finest manner. The building has been declared a cultural monument and is under state protection.